Lady Wildcats snap decade-long drought, defeats Scott for sectional championship

Top ranked Logan ended a decade long sectional championship drought Thursday evening with an 8-3 win over seventh-ranked Scott in the Class AA Region 4 Section 2 championship at Bea Orr Field (Photo courtesy of Logan Wildcats Softball Facebook).

Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports

LOGAN The outs counted down for a moment that the Lady Wildcats had waited a decade for when Myleigh Adkins prepared her 0-2 pitch to Lady Skyhawks first baseman Ava Sampson in the top of the seventh inning.

Standing in the circle at Bea Orr Field, the junior right-handed pitcher gripped the bright yellow softball, toed the pitching rubber and unleashed a fastball that caught Sampson looking for the final out and set off a celebration 10 years in the making.

Adkins let out a celebratory yell, bent over at the waist and was mobbed by her teammates and coach Levi Curry in the circle as the top-ranked Logan Lady Wildcats won their first sectional championship since 2015 with an 8-3 win over seventh-ranked Scott Thursday evening in the third game of the Class AA Region 4 Section 2 tournament.

Adkins allowed three runs - one earned - on five hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in seven innings and was 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and three RBIs.

The win advances Logan to the best-of-three Region 4 championship on May 19. The Lady Wildcats will host game one of the championship series and if necessary, game three.

Logan will face the winner of Class AA Region 4 Section 1 tournament. Second-seeded Roane County defeated fourth-seeded Poca, 13-5, Thursday night to advance to Friday's championship against top seed and fourth-ranked Buffalo (Putnam). The Lady Bison need one win to advance to the regional finals.

Lauren Adkins doubled home the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to score Addison Richardson, who singled with one out, from first base giving Logan a 4-3 lead.

The Lady Wildcats scored four more times and hung a five-spot in the sixth to take an 8-3 lead. The five-run rally came an inning after the Lady Skyhawks plated two runs in the fifth to tie the score at 3-3.

Following a groundout by Lena Setser, Melody Rozzell walked, and Addison Starr singled to score Adkins and give the Lady Wildcats 5-3 lead.

A walk to Lacy Curry loaded the bases and Myleigh Adkins walked to score Rozzell and Ashlin Brumfield followed with a two-run single to score Starr and Curry for an 8-3 lead.

Curry went 2-for-3 and scored a pair of runs, Brumfield was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, Starr was also 1-for-2 with one RBI and Lauren Adkins 1-for-3 with a double and one RBI.

Logan led 3-1 after four innings, but Scott used a pair of two out run scoring fifth inning singles from Haven Tomblin and Alyssa Shultz to even the score at 3-3.

The two runs, both unearned, were the last runs the Lady Skyhawks would score the rest of the night.

Shultz, Tomblin and Hailey Capps, who had an RBI single in the third inning to drive home Scott's first run of the game, each had one hit and one RBI for the Lady Skyhawks.

Cambri Barker gave up eight runs on seven hits, walked six, struck out two and hit one batter in six innings in the circle for the Lady Skyhawks, who end their season at 17-13.

Logan improved to 20-6 with the win and has six regular season games left, which could be played between now and the start of the regional championship series against teams who are still alive in postseason play.